In the Au Naturel division of feeding birds, some friends came by with an adopted chihuahua, and they had it wearing a plastic Raptor Guard shield so it wouldn't be carted away by an own or hawk..http://raptorshield.com/
(I remember when, years ago, an owl took a run at a large cat of mine, decided he was too large to take on)
20+ years ago, I was on a canoe trip a bunch of guys on the North Platte in Wyoming. We were at a camp site in Saratoga Springs the first night and there was a very irritating, yappy miniature poodle puppy at a camp site near us.
A great horned owl swooped out of nowhere, picked up the little dog and carried him off into the darkness. The dog kept yapping the whole way.
The family of the poodle was heart broken. It was very dramatic.
Typical GMA crappy “journalism.”
Rule one: Make sure that the important part of the video can’t actually be seen. This can easily be accomplished by putting a stupid headline or question or statement over the quarter of the screen where the action actually takes place. It is much more important for the viewers to see that the video has “gone viral” than it is to actually see what is shown in the video.
Rule two: Raise a question, but whatever you do, don’t answer it. Make sure to give the viewers the idea that at the end you are going to answer the question, but then, no matter what, make sure that no answer is given. Viewers love being left in suspense.
Sheesh.
"We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust
interesting wee blurb in our very local rag: a guy driving to work some nights ago saw a weirdly shaped blob of snow in the road (state highway), so he drove around it, but then he realized it looked like a bird.
So he investigated and saw it was an owl, with something else...he thought it might be a young bird..but no, the owl was dining on a dead grouse in the middle of the road...figuring they were going to get run over, this guy picked up the dead grouse and put it some distance off the road...the owl stared at him and seemed displeased, but stayed in the road...so he picked up the owl as well, put it next to the dead grouse, and it resumed its dinner.
Was able to watch a Red-bellied Woodpecker several times this weekend. No pictures since he was very nervous and as soon as I started to move he'd be gone. Most beautiful color of head and nape. Orangish-red. A nice specimen, I'll work harder next time to try to get a pic.
BTW, anyone know why they are called Red-bellied? They definitely do not seem to have red underneath.
"That young man has an extra step on his ladder the rest of us just don't have."
There is a rufus tinge to the belly feathers in breeding season (early spring). Not often seen. Most woodpeckers and sapsuckers have some red feathering -- so red-headed doesn't work for this bird. Moreover, there IS a Red-Headed Woodpecker.
Names were typically given to birds by early ornithologists, who "collected" specimens and examined them in a tray. How often does one see the "ruby crown" of the so-named Kinglet?
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
Here's a female at my feeder. Notice the head is only partially red. The male has an almost entirely red head. I love woodpeckers. They are all so unique and colorful.
D572C85F-0ED9-4D96-89F2-D87FAF7A5DC1.jpg
"The future ain't what it used to be."
I was so tired of the gloomy wet weather we've been having in NC when the sun came out today I decided to go for a drive after work with my camera. Got a couple good pics...
3B819D36-01BC-419F-8C6C-0E9B6FCE0989.jpg American Kestrel
7E60F1D6-D6A5-4B3C-9D8B-38E33B5A5B2A.jpgRed Shouldered hawk, I think it was a juvenile
"The future ain't what it used to be."
C279BDED-D962-44FA-B949-36345DD4DDCF.jpg
We’ve had 2 or 3 snowy owls in the shore town i am staying at during the pandemic.
I had never seen one before this winter. They’ve become an obsession for me. I must have 1000 pics - even bought a new lens.
They really come alive right at dusk which is a challenge for the pictures. The male I was watching tonight had two kills along the beach and the dunes. Words fail to describe their beauty in flight.
It’s in the 80’s here in South Florida and the annual arrival of the large grackles has begun. They are extremely aggressive. Walking in the yard brings them into attack mode. They chase the other birds from the feeder. I need an owl or hawk!
I’m at the Jersey shore - all the way at the bottom (Cape May County). Fascinating to hear they are as far south as VA and NC. They are coming from the Arctic - I thought we were as far south as they went. Apparently years go by without seeing them here - everyone once in a while there is a population “eruption” and you can see them down here. I am trying to make the most of the opportunity.